Tickets for Two
by spoiledpuppy
Summary: When a hare-brained scheme of Ino's lands Shikamaru and all of their acquaintances at a local amusement park, Shikamaru wonders who it is that she's trying to hook up with him...  AU


Tickets for Two

Coupling: ShikaHina

This is a oneshot for my Hinata6 who wrote me a RenjiHinata fanfic while I was offline for, like, unbearably long. (sadface) I've never writtena SH fic before so enjoy my first attempt! ^^;

* * *

><p>"Hey, Shikamaru, what kind of girl do you like?" Ino had asked him one day.<p>

**He had known the bossy girl had ulterior motives for asking that question…**

"What are you on about now?" He asked after a moment of hesitation. The blond had a mischievous smile curling her lips today and he could practically hear her excitement gathering around him.

"Nothing really. Come on tell me!" When he refused to reply she rolled her eyes as if she expected that and instead leaned into his field of vision to poke his forehead to get his attention.

**But he never would have guessed at the time what she was really up to.**

"We're going to a fair tonight, and you're coming with us."

Shikamaru didn't bother complaining about how he didn't have a choice in the matter because he knew she'd keep bothering him if he didn't go along with it. He let out a defeated sigh, "Fine, where are we meeting up?"

Ino gave a victorious laugh. "I knew you'd want to come! We're meeting at Mockingbird Station at eight." As she skipped across the room she continued, "Don't be late- and bring your wallet!"

After she slipped out of the classroom he muttered to himself quietly, only one word loud enough to be heard, before he went back to the book he was reading.

"Troublesome."

ooooOoooo

Shikamaru tucked his hand into his pocket as the subway's doors shuttered open. The people around him moved out of the way to let him by, some eyeing him as he left the car. Japanese may not be common in this area but that didn't warrant so much attention. Living in this city was so annoying sometimes. He looked down at his iPod as the doors shut behind him, it was five until eight. Knowing Ino, he had a feeling she would be-

"Shikamaru!" No, he was wrong, she was early too. The blond waved her arms at him back and forth, attracting everyone's attention. He took stock of the people with her as he calmly walked to meet them.

He recognized most of the faces; one tends to stick close to others of your ethnicity in this kind of community. He picked off their names as his eyes registered their faces.

Sasuke, the undeniable, cliché, cool guy of their class, Shino, a soft spoken young man who was often mistaken as a troublemaker due to his attitude, Kiba- known troublemaker. Then there was Chouji, the glutton school, Ino, the noisy girl, Hinata, the 'not-noisy-enough' girl, and Sakura who was almost as annoying as Ino. At the moment, Ino's arm was wormed around Sasuke's and Sakura was glaring at the scene from the corner of her eye.

This was going to be an aggravating evening, Shikamaru could already tell.

ooooOoooo

Hinata kept her eyes averted, trying to find a spot to focus her gaze on as Shikamaru joined them. The night had barely started and she was already nervous. Ino had proclaimed yesterday that she was going to hook her and Shikamaru together.

Apparently her being single was out of the question for Ino all of a sudden. She had no idea what had set her off, maybe it had something to do with Sasuke… As Hinata's eyes wandered over to Sakura, she hoped Ino had something under her clothes to protect her from the daggers practically digging into her back.

"Is this everyone?" She heard Shikamaru ask aloud. Hinata risked looking his way.

His dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail again, and a pair of sunglasses rested on his forehead. His jacket, a dark green, had the name of a band written in kanji on the sleeve but the design of the jacket itself wasn't clear because it was unzipped, showing off the plain black t-shirt he was wearing underneath. It clung precariously close to his skin, marketing the toned stomach underneath.

She felt herself blushing and looked away. Why was she acting so oddly? Was it because Ino had put him in her head as a love interest? As she tried to sort out her feelings she felt someone put a hand on her shoulder.

"You coming, Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked her, when Hinata turned to answer she saw the girl's eyes was focused past her. Probably still glaring at Ino. The others had already begun the walk to the amusement park.

"Y-yes. Sorry."

Sakura looked away from Ino to smile at her. "Nothing to apologize for, c'mon, we don't want to fall too far behind! Ino-_chan_ is paying for our tickets after all." The evil smile on Sakura's lips scared Hinata for some reason.

The walk to the park was both awkward and quiet as she walked next to the green-eyed girl and Hinata made it a policy to keep two feet from Sakura all the way there.

ooooOoooo

Ino looked at her wallet sadly after they had entered the park, obviously upset about how empty it was since she had paid for all of the girl's tickets. Shikamaru watched as she shook her head and put on a determined face.

He knew she was stingy about spending money for others, so she had to have a reason for this. Ino had been asking about his type earlier so she was probably trying to hook him up with someone. As he mentally groaned about that he rolled all the possibilities through his head.

Obviously not Ino herself, she was practically glued to Sasuke at the moment. Maybe she wanted him to woo Sakura to get her off her back? He doubted that since Ino had a good grasp on Sakura's personality and she would know that would never work. His dark eyes flickered to the other girl in the group, Hinata Hyuuga. Ino wouldn't seriously try to pair them up, would she? He barely knew the shy girl.

As if feeling his attention Hinata glanced in his direction and upon meeting his gaze she jumped and looked away quickly, a light pink staining her cheeks.

As he turned his attention to the sights around him, he tried to debunk that theory. Last he knew, the girl had feelings for the biggest loudmouth in their school. But Ino had been complaining a week ago about how that idiot had been waltzing around with 'a two bit slut'. Her voice was so shrill as she complained over the phone to him about it that he had missed many of the details. Maybe this was some kind of rebound plot?

"Where should we go first?" Someone asked.

"The Power Surge is that way." Kiba pointed to their left.

Ino gaped at him. "Why would you want to go on that first?"

"Would you rather eat first and barf on it later?" Sasuke pitched in, earning a grin from Kiba.

Chouji, who had just come back with a bag of chips, paused in the act of stuffing his face at the word 'barf'. Ino looked equally as disgusted and waved her hand in defeat.

"Fine we'll go there. But I want to check out the games afterwards." She said, snuggling into Sasuke's arm. Sasuke himself had a look on his face as if he wanted to pry her off but left her there anyway, probably not wanting to deal with her pouting all night long.

After they reached the spinning monstrosity they entered the line which was short, but given how early in the evening was that wasn't so surprising. Ino grinned at them.

"Alright, it's two per slot so pick a partne-!" Ino was interrupted as Sakura wedged herself between her and Sasuke, knocking the blond aside.

"Sasuke-kun, let's be partners!" She cooed. Sasuke blinked in surprise before his face soured, obviously not enjoying being a party favor to the two girls. He didn't protest the arrangement and let Sakura drag him into line.

Kiba looked at Hinata and was beginning to open her mouth when he caught a glare from Ino.

"Uh, Chouji, let's take that monster on together!" The plump teen gulped as Kiba steered them into place. As Ino seized Shino he had no doubts left that Ino was trying to hook Hinata and him up. She could at least a little more subtle about it though, he complained to himself as a soft voice attracted his attention.

"Um, Shikamaru-kun, would you…?" She trailed off quietly, fidgeting in place. Shikamaru huffed and patted her shoulder.

"C'mon, Hinata-chan, the others are waiting." She blushed at the contact, and her eyes flickered away from his again. Yup, Ino was definitely trying to hook them up. Hinata had never acted like this around him before. Shikamaru decided to go along with it for now but if Ino tried something drastic he was going to have a discussion with her about causing him unnecessary problems.

One by one, the group was seated in the spinning monstrosity, the last of the pink faded from Hinata's face as they waited their turn to be seated and, if it was even possible, she looked more pale than usual.

After a moment he spoke up. "You're not scared, are you?"

She jumped and waved her hands back and forth, "N-no! Of course not… Well… I've never been on a ride like this before." The pale eyed girl looked back at the machine nervously.

Shikamaru sighed and reached a hand up to scratch the back of his head as Chouji and Kiba were seated, "You don't have to ride if you don't want to."

Hinata shook her head lightly. "I'll be fine…"

Before the conversation could go any further an employee called them up to buckle them in.

ooooOoooo

Hinata tried not to shake as they were seated, the last time she had been on a roller coaster when she was a kid she nearly had a heart attack. She already knew this ride spun a lot and as much as she didn't wasn't to ruin the evening, she really didn't want to be strapped in this beast of a ride.

The harnesses to keep them in their seats felt more like straightjackets at the moment and she could see Shikamaru examining her warily. Hinata tried to steel herself when the ride began, at least hoping that keeping her eyes closed would keep her from screaming, as the last of the seats were filled.

"Hey, we're getting off!" Shikamaru said loudly, surprising her. The couple across from them blinked and she could see some of their friends turning around to look at them. One of the employees blinked before coming over to unlock the harness.

"Shikamaru-kun? I'm fine, you don't have to-"

He turned his frown toward her, "I don't really care if I ride this stupid thing or not, don't worry about it." When they were free of the enclosing harnesses Shikamaru grabbed her wrist and began to lead her away from the ride.

Despite herself, she couldn't help but notice how gently his hand was holding her wrist even though he was scowling. After a moment he released her, the action surprised her somewhat as he dropped back to walk beside her.

"So, what do you want to do now?"

"Oh." Her eyes scanned the booths around them, "How about that?" She pointed to a game station with bb guns and alien spaceships.

Shikamaru blinked at her choice and, realizing how childish the game was, she waved her hands quickly back in forth as her face heated up, "Oh, sorry, um, we can do something else!"

He sighed, "Don't freak out so much about everything, I was just surprised they had that here." He turned towards her, his dark eyes making her pause, "It's alright to just say what's on your mind, it's not healthy to keep everything locked up all the time." He smiled softly for a moment and, without realizing it, her mouth fell slack a bit in surprise and her blush came back in full force. Without warning Shikamaru walked on to the game booth.

"Come on, I got a teddy bear to win." He stated as if he didn't actually care if he won or not, typical Shikamaru. She giggled at his flat tone and hurriedly joined him at the booth. Who knew he had such a sweet side, she reflected as he went on to win her a giant stuffed animal.

ooooOoooo

The night ended too soon, Hinata decided as the crowd began to disperse from the park. Ino and the others joined them at the station as they waited for their individual trams to arrive.

Carrying a bag of goodies that she had insisted him on having, Shikamaru sighed as people gave him odd looks. A small teddy bear and loads of candy and prizes stuck out of his bag as well as a balloon hanging above him, he really wasn't surprised that he was a center of attention now. Hinata had one arm full with the stuffed elephant he had won at the beginning of the night and she also had her own small bag of treats. Shikamaru was probably end up feeding most of the goodies he had to Kiba's dog anyway but he didn't want to risk upsetting Hinata by telling her that.

Shikamaru was much more relaxing to be around than Hinata had originally thought; she glanced at him from the corner of her eye as Ino crept to her side.

"Neh, Hinata, how did it go?" Shikamaru overheard Ino trying to whisper stealthily in the Hyuuga's ear. He shifted his gaze to the shorter, dark haired girl next to him to catch her looking back.

She blushed but somehow managed not to overreact, shifting her eyes to the concrete below her. "U…Um… I…" Before she could manage to stutter out her opinion her train arrived. Her heart tumbled with a mix of relief and reluctance. As much as she was happy to be escape the prying behavior of Ino, it finally set in that her wonderful night was over. As this feeling rolled over her heart, Shikamaru's face popped into her head.

"G-goodnight." She said, too embarrassed to look at Shikamaru as she managed not to run to her train. Why was her heart beating so fast? There was no way she liked him, right? It was all just a silly plot by Ino, so… why did she feel this way? Until a week ago she only had eyes for Naruto, did that mean she was shallow? She pondered this as she passed the threshold of the train. She grabbed a handle dangling from above, feeling herself lucky that there weren't many people in the compartment to see her red face.

"Shikamaru, wait, that's not your train!" Chouji yelled out somewhere behind her. The words not yet sinking in, she turned to find out what the fuss was about, coming face to face with a familiar chest as the train doors closed quietly.

Shikamaru felt his face turn pink at his out-of-character behavior as Hinata looked up at him.

"Before you say anything," He held up a hand as Hinata opened her mouth, "I didn't want to say anything to you in front of Ino or the others, you know how they overreact to everything." As she seemed to process this he sighed and reached a hand up to rub the back of his head.

"Look, I'm not the kind of guy who does… romantic stuff all the time but," He tried to think of the best way to express his thoughts, "Do you… want to hang out sometime?" Even saying something so casual took all his effort to get out due to the underlying 'do you want to go out with me' tone he used.

Hinata blinked, hearing both levels to the question she blushed, "S-sure. I'd love to." She smiled softly up at him, he returned the gesture by wrapping an arm around her waist to hold her close. At the moment they ignored the curious onlookers as something came to Hinata's mind.

"How do you plan on getting home?"

Shikamaru frowned, pausing to set his head atop hers. "…I think a tram loops back around to a station close to mine."

Hinata giggled as Shikamaru contemplated his walk home that evening.

* * *

><p>A.N. Thanks for reading this far. :D As a side note, one may have noticed that they only call certain people with formalities and not others: I have a reason for that.

Even though they do hang out, they're only close with a few people in their respective close-knit-friendly-friend-group. Usually they only refer to people from their close group, I tried to define it solely to their anime teammates but they're not only limited to so few people. You can tell how the group is linked together by common friendship this way, even if it isn't explicitely stated within the confines of the story (at least i hoped to achieve this effect).

That is my super long rant for today! (goes to watch hetalia~)


End file.
